


Don't be scared

by scotchandwhitelies



Category: Black Panther (2018), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Light Angst, Married Couple, One Shot, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:22:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23821507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scotchandwhitelies/pseuds/scotchandwhitelies
Summary: The princess of Wakanda is pregnant.The White Wolf can't help the fear of not being enough.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Shuri
Comments: 12
Kudos: 66





	Don't be scared

“I’m terrified.”

The words are faint, almost a whisper. Shuri’s head is tucked underneath her husband’s chin and her eyes flutter open at the sound of his low, raspy voice.

“Had a nightmare again ?”, she asks, smoothing a hand on his naked chest and pushing softly to hoist herself up. His vibranium arm smooths her back to placate her.

“No. Just thinking about us is all.”

Blue eyes bore into hers, filled with worries. The sight makes her chest pang and she can’t help but lift her head and leave a peck on his chin, right against the dimple she loves so much.

“Wanna talk about it ?”, Shuri proposes. No matter how many years passed since she deprogrammed him, Bucky will never be fixed entirely.

He’ll always have a habit of underappreciating himself and cooking the worst scenarios when he’s left by himself.

He sighs and for what seems to be minutes, silence is his only reply. Shuri focuses on distractions, eyes wandering to the dark espresso of their furniture. The white and brown Adikra symbols painted over their textured walls. Months ago, their chambers was filled with plants as well but the smells had become unbearable to Shuri. That brings her to the biggest distraction in the room.

The footballs bump that raises the yellow and ocher sheets when she fully lays on her back and lowers her eyes.

Bucky follows her line of sight and his flesh hand cradles her belly then. Shuri sucks in a breath.

Ever since she’s started showing, her senses have been on overdrive. Too bad her husband is overprotective to the point of denying her and himself.

She buries the longing and forces her  
thoughts back to the matter. Bucky is terrified. Though he looks completely entranced now, a smile stretching his lips while his thumb strokes her belly.

“You’re the strongest person I know, love”, she says, tilting her head to the side to contemplate him.

Chocolate brown falls from his head like a curtain and she tucks a strand beneath his ear with a content hum.

Bucky chews on his lip. “I’m still terrified.”

She shrugs and wraps an arm around his shoulders. Well, technically, she can’t. Her husband isnothing but solid muscles and broad shoulders so she settles for winding an arm around his neck.

Bucky gets the cue and ever so softly, he settles his calloused hands beneath her armpits and settlesh atop of him so her back is pressed against his chest. Shuri nearly purrs when he peppers ac of kisses on her neck while his knotted arms wind beneath her bump.

“If this about possible labor complications, I can assure I’ve already the best doulas on call and Wakandan medicine is the safest on earth. You know that, right ?”

He shakes his head then. She can’t see him but the muffled sound of hair against cotton is enough.

She tries to look over her shoulder, nearly giggling when his scruffed cheeks titillate a spot that makes her coil and spasm.

Bucky gives a chuckle before kissing her temple.

“I know, sugar. I’m sure everything is going to be fine in that regard because you are the strongest person I know.”

“So what are you so scared of ?”

“The baby”, he confesses.

“The White Wolf is scared of babies, what would the world say eh ?”

“Shuri...”

“And by the way, I’m pretty sure you’re gonna give me a big headed child with that forehead of yours. I may have to get sutures and all, Barnes, just you wait. Remind me to order a wheelchair tomorrow”, she quips. But the joke falls flat on Bucky and his only answer is a scowl.

Shuri sighs and taps his hands so he loosens his hold. She instructs him to help her scramble and straddle him because her center of gravity has completely shifted with the baby. The simplest of movements can have her tripping. It has once taken a hundred swats to the arm and an epic sulk of  
hers for Bucky to stop giggling everytime she comes into a room and waddles in his direction.

There goes that insufferable grin now.

“ _Stop doing that_ ”, she hisses, digging her nails in his shoulders.

“Doing what ?”, he says, flesh hand cradling her neck while his metal arm finds the small of her back.

“Looking like a smug little shit, eh”

Bucky giggles then. “C’mon, I ought to be smug. The princess of Wakanda is carrying my baby after all.”

The sheer happiness she reads on his face makes her annoyance deflate like a balloon and she narrows her eyes at him playfully.

“You won’t be this smug when I get to be the favorite parent, Buck”, she taunts.

His hand pushes the back of her neck to have her ghosting her breath over his lips.

“Is that a challenge, sugar ? Because you know I’m ready to give you all the babies needed until I get to be the favorite parent for at least one the bunch.”

As if by second nature, their son kicks and the ongoing strain she feels in her ribs makes her wince and lean forward.

Months ago, the news of her pregnancy have filled the entire palace with joy but it had been soon tampered by the reality of carrying a child with super soldier DNA when she’s so petite.

Naturally, Shuri has been advised to let science do its job but watching her first baby grow out of her womb was out of question.

She’s come up with her own serum to make up for brittle bones and coughing fits.

Shuri suddenly feels out of breath and lets her head lolls on her husband’s shoulder.

“You okay ?”, he rasps, smoothing her back with both hands now. Despite his earlier words, Shuri knows Bucky still has reservations about her going the natural way in her labor plans.

She nods and hums before meeting his eyes again, knotting her lithe arms around his neck.

“Back to the matter now. What are you so scared of ?”

He swallows on nothing before lowering his eyes to her bump. “What if I’m not...What If I mess this up ?

Shuri furrows her brows but nods to give him enough motivation to go on.

“What if I’m not a good father ? What if our child hates me ? The things I’ve done...”

“That’s impossible, love”, she replies immediately.

“It is. Look, I can barely remember my own father and I have no experience at all with babies either.”

“We’ll learn together. Besides, I know you’re more ready than me logistic-wise."

“What do you mean ?”

“I’ve found your stash of pregnancy books.”

Bucky’s cheeks go pink then and he looks so sheepish and guilty she has to smother a grin.

Her hands thread through his hair to massage his scalp. She revels in this little bubble of theirs for what feels like a lifetime. In the distance, when she focuses enough, she catches the early chirping of birds and the rustling of the bushes.

Their aisle is adjacent to the botanical gardens so it’s always a pleasure to wake up early.

“Did you ?”

“I did.”

“That’s an invasion of privacy, your Highness.”

Shuri arches an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t have married the government then”, she counters with a sly smile. Bucky gives in to the humor. Shuri watches intently as waves of laughter rack his body before he gives a peck on her lips.

“Don’t be scared, Bucky. We’re in this together.”

The mirth dissolves then and he nods slowly, hands playing with her braids. Shuri knows he doesn’t believe he deserves a happy ending, given how much blood stains his past. He’s never said it so out loud but she knows him better than anyone else.

“We’re in this together”, she repeats with intent. “And nobody is perfect, Buck. If we fall to our duties as parents then we’ll ask for their forgiveness, okay ? Everything will be alright.”

Bucky stays silent, eyes focused to her face as he holds his breath. He’s probably thinking about the impending conversation he’ll have with their child. About the past. Steve. _Hydra_.

When the time comes and they’re big enough to listen. Listen without judging.

Shuri goes on so he doesn’t dwell on it too much. “You know my baba always treated kids as adults ? He didn’t coo, he didn’t tickle, he didn’t believe in baby talk. That’s why so many loved him. Because he treated them as important. Always treated his own children with care, gentleness and respect too. I intend to do the same with ours. Well, I’ll probably have an annoying mother hen phase but I want them to know their voices and feelings matter anytime.”

Bucky gets a soft, understanding look on his face that makes her heart swell. As a child, Shuri was underestimated for a long time. Her father was the one to let her genius shine and allow her to school other adults. She told Bucky all about her misadventures and early exploits.

“You’re going to be great, Bucky”, she whispers with a stuttering voice. It has been ages but the mere thought of her father still brings tears to her eyes sometimes. It’s selfish to say so because she’s so lucky in many ways but there are times when Shuri feels like an orphan.

Now that she’s goingto be a parent as well, she needs her father’s guidance more than ever. She wishes he could have been there to meet the family she’s made for her own and share some of his experience with Bucky. 

The words she wanna say get lost when she chokes on air, eyes wet with unshed tears.

Bucky peppers her face with kisses before nuzzling her nose and threading their fingers together.

“Iwam Uthando”, he whispers. “I’ll be the best father I can be, Shuri. I promise.”

She nods and inhales a sharp breath. They both smile when their baby kicks again while his hand hikes the linen of her dress to caress soft, brown skin.

* * *

Four months later, Bucky almost falls to his knees when he meets his son for the first time. A head full of dark hair that outreaches the hem of his bonnet.

Golden, sand like skin.

Something lights up in him then.

The doula passes the child to him reverently and he bits back a sob when the baby flutters his eyesopen.

Blue eyes that mirror his own. But that scowl is definitely Shuri’s so he releases a watery chuckle and presses a reverent kiss to his forehead, inhales that sweet baby smell.

That earns him another scrunching of the nose.

“So what do you think of our masterpiece ?”, Shuri quips with a cracked voice when Bucky settles in the woven chair beside the bed after kissing her soundly, reverently.

She looks exhausted, damp curls stuck to her forehead while her chest still rises and falls after the effort of bringing a new life into the world.

Bucky lifts his flesh arm to brush a few strands from her face.

“He is so tiny, love...”

On any other occasion, he’d be a little ashamed that his voice sounds so damp and high but the only thing that matters now is the tiny human wrapped in a bundle, in the safety of his arms.

It’s only been a few minutes but he already knows he’ll give his entire life and a thousand more for this child. It’s a miracle he’s not bursting from the magnitude of this love already.

The sight of them makes Shuri smile.

“He is. You look like an action man figure holding a burrito."

Bucky’s whole attention is focused on inspecting their son’s nails after his small fist raises to skim his beard. His own fingers brush over the miniature Kimoyo beads Shuri’s made weeks ago.

The wristband is linked to their own and do nothing but run a health diagnosis on command.

“Thank you”, he says when his eyes meet hers again, shaky voice threatening to break.

There is no quip this time. Just a soft, understanding look on her face while a smile stretches her lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Repost from a work I've written under my @Oopswakanda pseud.  
> Comments are always appreciated. You can talk rarepair hell with me on Tumblr @scotchandwhitelies 💌


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